Whole Diet Approach to Child Nutrition Urged by Pediatricians

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New guidelines released today by a leading U.S. pediatricians
group urge a more practical, commonsense approach toward
nutrition to help improve children's diets and health, both in
school and at home.

The guidelines come in a policy statement from the American
Academy of Pediatrics, offering the organization's latest
thinking on foods and nutrition. The statement encourages a
broader dietary pattern that is focused more on what children —
and adults, too — should eat, rather than what they shouldn't.

In the paper, the doctors focus on promoting a
healthy overall diet, and using only a little bit of sugar,
fat and salt to make healthy foods more appealing to kids. It was
published online today (Feb. 23) in the journal Pediatrics.

"Parents should look for every opportunity to make small, simple
improvements in the nutritional value of the foods and drinks
they provide children, in school and out," said Dr. Robert
Murray, one of the statement's lead authors and a professor of
nutrition at The Ohio State University.

To guide parents as well as the pediatricians who counsel parents
about a healthy diet, the paper spells out a five-step approach
to eating. According to Murray, these recommendations are:

1.Choose a mix of foods from the five food groups: fruits,
vegetables, whole grains, lower-fat dairy products and quality
proteins, such as lean meats, fish, eggs, beans, nuts and seeds.

2.Provide a wide variety of different foods from each food group
throughout the week.

3.Offer foods in their most-natural, least-processed state as the
family budget will allow.

4.Use small amounts
of sugar, fat and salt to increase the amount of healthy
nutrient-rich foods and drinks that kids will eat. Good examples
include flavored milks or sweetened whole-grain breakfast
cereals.

The 2015 statement highlights the improvements made in the decade
since then, which have led to changes in the types of drinks sold
in schools and to additional limits on students' access to sugary
drinks.

Progress has also been made in improving the
meals served in schools, as well as in the nutritional value
of products sold in vending machines, Murray told Live Science.
But the food that students bring to school is still an issue. For
example, students may bring candy or desserts to school in their
lunches, or for bake sales or class parties.

"In nearly all American schools, there remains ready access to
high-calorie, low-nutrient foods and beverages from products
brought into school by students, parents and staff," Murray said.

This problem calls for better education of parents and staff, and
greater involvement of pediatricians in schools, acting directly
as child
nutrition advocates, the paper recommended.

Keith Ayoob, a registered dietitian and pediatric nutritionist at
Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, applauded the
policy statement for not banning any foods. He said it gives
people the information they need to make better choices.

A total-diet approach is better than calling out certain foods,
such as sugar, or suggesting that people eat less of certain
nutrients, Ayoob said.

When counseling parents about child nutrition, Ayoob said he
offers them similar advice about focusing on giving kids the five
food groups. If kids get their fill of healthy food, then they
will naturally get the nutrients they need, he said.

Ayoob also said he liked that the paper implied schools can't
improve nutrition on their own, and that parents need to become
more mindful of health when packing lunches, planning food
celebrations at school and serving family meals at home.

"Improving child nutrition has to be a community project, and
parents are part of this community," Ayoob said.